


Exactly The Same

by kancake



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, M/M, idk cute things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-10
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-29 07:19:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kancake/pseuds/kancake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"After being with Terezi for so long and being so used to being prioritized somewhere above six-color crayon boxes and below 'would you like some fries with that ketchup' he's not really sure how to react to how enthusiastic John is about being boyfriends and stuff, not to mention that John wants to spend more time with him than with reruns of Judge Judy. But he guesses it might be kind of nice."</p><p>A prompt from tumblr user murryblue</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exactly The Same

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a thing guys look I'm being productive

The world was strangely different, but exactly the same in more ways than you expected.

You are a motherfucking coolkid, and your name is Dave Strider. Today, you broke up with your girlfriend of, like, four years. You probably shouldn't say it that way, since you didn't break up with her, but she didn't break up with you, either. You just sort of found yourselves... broken up. It wasn't anything nasty and loud, there were no objects thrown, there wasn't even break-up sex.

Terezi just sort of looked up at you from her seat on the floor where she was colouring, finding you with her blind eyes like it was nothing, and you kind of glanced back through your shades, and you kind of just... realized.

You've been dating Rezi since you were 13 years old, and it took you four years to realize that you'd always just sort of been friends with benefits, not really a couple. Maybe for a while you were but... not really. Not exactly.

Today you broke up with Rezi, but you're still meeting her at the diner at 7 to get some grub before you hit up a movie at 8, and the only difference is that you don't feel like you should hold her hand in your way there. You still tease her about the sheer amount of ketchup on her fries and that her burger is practically bleeding if she can even taste the meat through the pile of tomatoes. She still gives you a toothy smile like that is the greatest thing she's ever heard. You still talk through the entire movie, loud enough to be considered a bother.

The next day, she still greets you at your doorstep, and you still give her a ride to school, and she still sticks her head out your window like she's a fucking dog. You still walk halfway to homeroom together, talking about bullshit, and you still walk to 1st, 6th, and 7th periods together, doing the same thing. It takes about two or three weeks before people even start knowing that you'd broken up at all, and you both had to be the ones to tell people that this was a thing. Once someone came up to you saying she was cheating on you and they saw her stuck all over Vantas, and you actually had to spend 15 minutes explaining to them that the two of you were no longer together.

It was all strangely different, but exactly the same in more ways than you expected.

 

It was hard to hear him over the thumping bass that you could feel ringing through your nerves. The music wasn't quite to you taste, but for a party that was suggested to you by Vriska, is was fairly decent. Egbert is standing in front of you, trying to talk and waving his hands around, but you couldn't hear a word he was saying. He looked up at you, his face flushed from what you assumed to be the heat and noise, and his mouth formed what you could tell was a question, and then he waited for you.

You leaned down, tilting your ear towards him. You can see his mouth form a "really, Dave?" but you still can't hear it really, so you lean forward more so his lips brush your ear. He teeters away a little before leaning back in, "Dave," he starts cautiously, and you nod slightly to prove you can hear him this time, "will you go out with me?"

You pull away like he's on fire, and he takes an unsteady little hop back from you too, his face flushing a more prominent red. The song playing ends in time for you to hear him blurt a "sorry!!" and he turns to make a swift exit. It takes you a full minute before you're shoving through people to chase him through the crowd, only catching him after he's hit the street.

It was just a house party, so no one's out on the small suburban street, and you know that Egbert's house is within walking distance, so you know you have to catch him quick, so you do. Too quick. You end up kind of tumbling into him and sending the both of you tumbling to the cold pavement.

He yelps in surprise, and you at least try to twist so you'll take the brunt of the fall, taking it at your shoulder, but it doesn't feel too banged up. "Oh my god, Dave, what are you doing?" He's pretty much scolding immediately, his voice still too loud for the outside.

"Rushing," you admit, almost laughing at how stupid you sound, how stupid you look, lying on a side walk with your head hanging off the curb and holding your best friend around the waist, half on top of you.

"Stupid," he laughs for you, and you grant him a smile. "Dude, look, really, I'm sorry. It really wasn't the right time or place, and I know you just broke up with Terezi like a month ago, and well, like all the other obvious reasons I shouldn't have just done that there. I'm sorry for them all."

"Sorry for what?" You ask, smirking.

"Sorry for... liking," you cut him off with a kiss - you imagine he likes shitty movies enough to be able to admire the action - and he lets you, and you're mildly amazed. His kiss is careful and soft and hesitant, a lot different from the kisses with Rezi. Not worse different, or better different, just... different different. "Dave, aaaaaaa, no, what," he mumbles into your mouth, and you have to stop yourself from laughing and pull away to grin at him, and you can admit that that is what it is, it's a grin. "Dave, what, aaaaaaaa," he repeats for good measure, and you try to relax before remembering you are lying on the sidewalk and there is nothing under your head and your neck is horribly propped on the curb.

"It's basically a yes," you assure, "can we get up?"

He's at his feet in record time, and you follow him at a more leisurely pace, the picture of cool (you hope). "Are you drunk?" Is the first thing he asks, and you snort.

"Wasted. Don't you take advantage of a maiden in such a state, Egbert, you beast."

"Just checking. I mean. Why would you say yes? You're, um, straight... I thought?"

"Then why'd you ask?"

"Because I'm stupid, I don't know, how long have you known me?"

"Does it matter? I said yes. Like, for real."

"For reals?"

"For one real. One singular real."

"Realsies?"

"Egbert," you warn, and his growing smile falters a little.

"Are you sure? It's okay??"

"So okay, okay? The most okay. Wanna head to your place?"

"Strider, are you propositioning me?" He mock-gasps, placing a hand to his heart.

"What if I am?" You snicker, and you're surprised when he sides himself up next to you and carefully takes your hand - less careful than you expected - and laughs a little. His laugh is soft, different from his usual laugh, and much different from Rezi's. Not worse different, or better different, just different different.

 

John had always been your best bro, and you guess it felt kind of natural to change to dating. Being that you weren't exactly the most affectionate person, and neither was Terezi, and your relationship had been a pretty poor excuse for one, and that was the only one you had ever had before, you didn't have a lot to compare to. One day while you were watching some shitty movie at his place that you politely put up with with only a few harsh remarks, he turned his big blue eyes up to you and just... waited. You took 3 careful minutes before uttering a, "yes?"

"Do you really like me?"

"What?"

"Do you really want to date me? I don't want to make you feel like you're forcing yourself or anything, you know? We can... be friends, I mean. If that's what you really want."

"When did I ever even hint that I didn't want to date you? Was it when I kissed you?" You roll your eyes, knowing he can tell you're doing so.

"Well, it might have been in that one time you kissed me after a party you might have drunken at. Once. About a month ago. Or in how there's this kind of five inch space between us at all times. Or how we don't go anywhere? Or do anything? Togeth-- wow," he covers his mouth quickly, and you look at him curiously. "I sound like literally the biggest nag to ever nag, wow, ha, sorry.... But I still don't want you to date me if... you don't want to date me."

You take a moment to consider all that. You're a little surprised that that wasn't normal. Usually Rezi and you only went out to make fun of/watch movies, which you just do at John's place. Rezi and you weren't really big on cuddling, since usually you were doing separate things, she was colouring or watching Judge Judy and you'd work on music or something. "Uh," you manage, sounding perfectly intelligent.

"Dave, I don't want to make you uncomfortable," he pleas, and you have to steel yourself a little to sort of awkwardly (very awkwardly) wrap your arm around his shoulders and draw him in close to you so you're practically forcing him to rest his head on you.

"Dude, shut up and watch your fucking terribad movie. We aren't watching it for me," you mutter, and he rests his hand on your stomach, only inching towards your hand, until you give in and grant it to him. He twines his fingers with yours and nuzzles you just a little, just right, to make you blush, but he can't see since his eyes are fixed on the screen again.

"Dave, I love you," he murmurs, quiet enough that you think he thinks you can't hear.

"Love you, too," you practically croak out, your throat is so fucking dry, and he curls into you more, all fucking content, and it's horribly sappy and intimate it makes your stomach feel all gross and weird and tied up and

you think maybe it's... nice?

Gross and weird and tied up and nice.

 

John likes going places - almost anywhere - and he likes people knowing you're dating. He's oddly protective of you, and he gets clingy when anyone else gets too near you. Not really in an annoying way that makes it hard for you to talk to people, just in subtle ways, in little glances, and the way his hand tightens in yours, and his goodbye kisses are just a little longer when you can tell he's afraid as soon as he leaves someone's going to move in.

This is much different from when you were with Rezi. Her and you had a sort of open-to-flirt relationship. You didn't cheat or anything, but you could flirt around a little, and neither of you minded. The weird thing was that now you didn't feel tied down by John or anything, in fact you had no urge to flirt with anyone anyway. In his absence you found yourself wondering where he was, not who else you could chat up.

He's always been your best friend, so you guess he always used to be your first go-to for talking to when you wanted company, but it was getting... different.

Everything was getting different.

 

You're always surprised when John asks you what you want. When he's flipping through channels and he suddenly hands the remote to you, giving up, or when he asks what you want to eat when he cooks dinner because his dad is out or busy, or stranger yet when he does so at your house - Bro and you drop what you're doing to watch in amazement as he somehow makes the stove work - or once when he went out shopping, he actually called you to ask if there was anything you wanted him to buy to make. Bro nagged at you about good housewives for at least a week and a half after, but you found the gesture really nice.

Usually with Rezi it was more first-come-first-serve and you'd have to battle it out to the death for the rights to chose anything. Also she would almost always win. Mostly because she cheated.

Because, seriously, in what book is biting _not_ considered cheating?

No book.

Dog fights, maybe, but besides that.

 

"What do you want to do after graduation?" He asks one day while you're chowing down on the breakfast he's made.

"What?" You manage, and he rolls his eyes a little.

"You know, after school is over. Are you going to college? Are you going..." he says it like there's more, but after a significant pause, you assume there isn't, so you look up to meet his eyes. The vast blue of them have widened into a look of shock, like he can't believe he'd just dared to ask you such a personal question. You quirk an eyebrow.

"Haven't thought much about it," you admit easily, and he looks at you like he doesn't believe you. "What about you?"

He fiddles with his fingers, looking like you shouldn't have asked, and it occurs to you that this is the most you've ever had to read John's face. Usually he's all words, so you start thinking maybe something is wrong.

"I want to be with you," he admits weakly, his voice shaking a little. "But I don't want to ask you to follow me anywhere. I was thinking... maybe I wouldn't make plans? So I could go with you? Unless, I mean, unless you don't want that. That's just me. Being. Weird."

"Weird," you repeat, pushing the remainder of your eggs around a little.

"In love," he corrects with a nervous little laugh, "with you. A lot. I guess. Weird."

"I guess I was... planning on just going with you. You seem more like the college dude, you know. I don't think I'm going to go to college - not yet anyway - so I thought maybe we'd... room together or something," you grant, losing your ability to eat anymore because your stomach was tying itself up.

"Yeah?" He looks up at you again, his eyes sparkling like a fucking shoujo manga.

"Y-yeah," you curse yourself for stuttering. "If that's cool. We can room... we can live together. I'd like to live with you. Is what I'm saying."

He flashes you a big grin, and you can't help but think how much you like it.

How much you'd like to wake up to his smile, even occasionally wake up to him sleeping besides you, how much you like to eat what he makes no matter what it is, how you wouldn't mind getting shitty part time jobs to help pay for rent, to give him a kiss goodbye in the mornings when he leaves for classes, once in a while you'd drag him into bed again and tell him to skip classes for the day (he wouldn't, but it would be worth a shot every time), how you could hold hands down the street of strangers, and you'd kill anyone who gave either of you shit about it, and you could spend every day like these weekends that you come over, just like them but only better.

How you'd like to spend every day with him.

How you feel strangely different about him.

Strangely different and yet exactly the same.


End file.
